Models in Better Agreement on Late-Month Cold as Natural Gas Futures Advance Early

With the market still eyeing a potential shift to notably chillier temperatures later this month, natural gas futures were up several cents in early trading Wednesday. The February Nymex contract was up 3.0 cents to $2.783/MMBtu at around 8:40 a.m. ET.

Prices retreated in Tuesday’s trading as midday weather model runs backed off on the amount of cold expected starting around Jan. 23, an “important period” that markets have been monitoring, according to NatGasWeather.

Overnight the Global Forecast System (GFS) extended milder trends for this time frame, while the European shifted “a touch cooler” to bring the two weather models into better agreement, the firm said.

“Most important, both aren’t quite as cold with the setup Jan. 23-27 compared to what they showed...